Green-winged Teal

Green-winged Teal, male

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Green-winged Teal, female

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Reproduction
7. Other Names

A very small, brightly patterned duck, the Green-winged Teal prefers shallow ponds with lots of emergent vegetation. Along the coast, it prefers tidal creeks, mudflats, and marshes to more open water.

Cool Facts

• The American and Eurasian forms of the Green-winged Teal were formerly considered different species. The Eurasian teal differ from the American by lacking the vertical white shoulder stripe and having a horizontal white stripe along the back instead. Eurasian teal show up casually each year along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.

Description

• Size: 31-39 cm (12-15 in)
• Wingspan: 52-59 cm (20-23 in)
• Weight: 140-500 g (4.94-17.65 ounces)

• Small duck.
• Iridescent green patch in wings, with white stripe in front.
• Yellowish tail stripe.
• Male with white stripe up shoulder, dark reddish and green head.

Sex Differences

Breeding male boldly patterned with gray and reddish; female dull mottled brown.

Immature

Similar to adult female.

Similar Species

• Female Blue-winged Teal is grayer brown, has white near the base of the bill, has a larger bill, has a large blue wing patch in front of the green one, and a dark, not white, belly.

Sound

Male gives single-noted whistle. Female gives shrill quack.

Range

Range Map

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

About the map

Summer Range

Breeds throughout Alaska and Canada, southward to northern Great Plains and Great Lakes. Also in northern Eurasia.

Winter Range

Winters in southern two-thirds of United States southward to southern Mexico.

Reproduction

Condition at Hatching

Covered in down and able to leave the nest soon after hatching.

Other Names

Sarcell d'hiver (French)
Cerceta común (Spanish)
Teal (British), Common Teal (English)

Sources used to construct this page:

1. Bellrose, F. C. 1976. Ducks, Geese, and Swans of North America. Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA.
2. Johnson, K. 1995. Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca). In The Birds of North America, No. 193 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.